See Our Live Penguin Cam!
Check out Edinburgh Zoo's penguins with our LIVE Penguin Cam.
Plan You Visit
Find out how to make the most of your trip and book tickets here.
How you can help
The natural world needs our help...and we need yours! Please consider making a donation to support our conservation, education and research work, both within our parks and across the world.
| Common Name: | Hamerkop | Family: | Scopidae |
| Latin Name: | Scopus umbretta | Diet: | Carnivore |
| Type: | Bird | Habitat: | Wetlands |
| Native To: | Africa | Social Unit: | Individual |
| IUCN Red List Status: | Least Concern |
Hamerkops at Edinburgh Zoo
Hamerkop photo by
At Edinburgh Zoo, the hamerkop is a favourite with keepers because its enclosure is always tidy – the birds pick up every fallen stick, leaf and feather in order to create their fabulous nest! The nest takes the form of an enormous hollow sphere, up to 2 metres in diameter, carefully constructed of woven sticks, grasses and whatever else the hamerkop can press into use.
Year round, they nearly always have a nest you can see, either in use or in construction. They will only use a nest once or twice, and then begin a new one – the keepers have to remove old nests to prevent damage to the trees in the aviary. The nest provides a safe, ‘climate-controlled’ place to rear their chicks, and our birds have proved this by breeding at all times of the year in our Scottish climate.
You may also be lucky enough to see an unusual bonding behaviour here at Edinburgh Zoo; ‘false mounting’ involves any one bird standing on the back of another and both singing their distinctive song.
Where it can be found at Edinburgh Zoo
The hamerkops can be found in the African Aviary, just west of the Steller’s sea eagle enclosure. Please note: the hamerkop are all off show at present.
Hamerkops in the wild
The hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) is a unique species, not closely related to any other birds in the world. Despite being a rather common-looking, medium-sized brown bird, the hamerkop is rather unusual in a number of ways.
Hamerkops are native to tropical Africa and Madagascar, but have a very large range. They appear in a wide variety of habitats ranging from forests to semi-desert. Hamerkops need to be close to water and trees, as their diet consists mainly of amphibians (frogs and tadpoles), small fish and crustaceans, as well as worms and insects. Hamerkops depend on the availability of trees for their remarkable nesting behaviour.
This species is classified as being of Least Concern, as its populations in the wild are numerous. However, hamerkops face the potential threat of wetland habitat deterioration due to the excessive use of pesticides in farming
Breeding programme: ESB
IUCN Red List Category: Least Concern
View our other animal profiles: